Iron Forges Iron: My Story

The importance of strong male role models.

Twelve Lessons School Reformers Should Know

Why people should stay away from ad hominem attacks, and other matters.

Voices of the Dropout Nation: Bill Betzen on Stemming Dropouts in Dallas

One district's solution for stemming dropouts: Ambition , spreadsheets and gun lockers.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Six Steps Toward Building Parent Power

Forging an infrastructure to bring parents to the head of education decisionmaking.

Today's Quote:

"We need to start from the cold-blooded premise that almost everyone is a genius -- not that almost everyone is worthless."

Teacher John Taylor Gatto on how he would improve education.

Recent Articles:

Dropout Nation on Twitter for 2010-09-03

September 3, 2010 Dropout Nation on Twitter No Comments

Powered by Twitter Tools

Voices of the Dropout Nation: August in Quotes

September 1, 2010 This is Dropout Nation, Voices of the Dropout Nation No Comments

“[The] shame of success has pervaded America’s educational culture for far too long. I’ve heard it repeatedly from low-income and minority students who are picked-on and ridiculed because they want to do their best in school. It saddens me to hear the same sentiment expressed by someone who should be a model for her students and peers. — U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan arguing why we need value-added evaluations of teacher performance — and why reports such as those by the Los Angeles Times are doing what education traditionalists and some reformers aren’t willing to do.

“The gender gap is larger in the Black community than in others. There are deep historical reasons for this and they do not lie in the Black community  it is part of what Gunnar Myrdal called the “American Dilemma.” Racism in America has always been “gendered.”… When Black males are educated to world class standards we can be pretty sure that all American children will have that opportunity.” — Schott Foundation research  czar Michael Holzman, author of the Yes We Can report, in response to Richard Whitmire at his Why Boys Fail blog.

“[Although] the number has remained roughly consistent over time, about 4 in 10 public school parents say they’d change schools if they could.  From a pure loyalty and market share perspective that should be a troubling number for the public school establishment but instead they take comfort from the 60 percent.” –Eduwonk‘s Andy Rotherham responding to the latest Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa poll on political support for public education.

Listen tomorrow for the Dropout Nation Podcast, which will focus on how to reform failing suburban districts such as the mostly-black Roosevelt district in New York (now under state control).

Search This Site:

Content Tags:

American Federation of Teachers Arne Duncan Barack Obama Charles Murray charter schools Chicago Public Schools D.C. Public Schools Diane Ravitch Dropout Factories dropouts EducationNews.org featured Gary Orfield Giving Parents Power graduation rates Indianapolis Public Schools Influencing dropouts Joel Klein Kevin Carey Los Angeles Unified School District Martin Haberman Michael Petrilli Michelle Rhee NAACP National Assessment of Educational Progress National Council on Teacher Quality National Education Association New York City Department of Education No Child Left Behind Act parental engagement Parent Power Parent Trigger Phillip Jackson Race to the Top Randi Weingarten Saving Black Males school choice school reform Schott Foundation for Public Education Steve Barr teacher quality The American Spectator The Dropout Nation Podcast This is Dropout Nation Tom Vander Ark

Advocates/Child Welfare

Improving Black Culture

Categories

Archives

RSSRiShawn Biddle/Dropout Nation on Twitter

RSS The Dropout Nation Podcast

  • The Dropout Nation Podcast: Save Young Men
    On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I take a look at the Schott Foundation’s report on black males and offer reminders that the achievement gap is not just one of race. All males, especially black and white males, are failing badly, with major consequences for America’s economy and society. It will take the reform of […]
  • Rewind: The Dropout Nation Podcast: Iron Forges Iron
    As you continue flipping through the Schott Foundation’s new report on the low graduation rates of black males (and the educational crisis threatening the futures of our young black men), listen to this rebroadcast of April’s Dropout Nation Podcast on what black men must do to help their sons and the younger men around them. […]
  • The Dropout Nation Podcast: Take It Higher
    This week’s Dropout Nation Podcast focuses on the internal cleansing school reformers and other caring adults must do to reform American public education. Far too many within traditional public education are either defending the status quo of systemic academic failure, anti-intellectualism, obsolete organizational structures and poor practices that perpetuat […]

Recent Comments:

  • Steve Peha: Dear Pinetree, You're absolutely right: most people would argue that teachers have to grade papers. But research and common sense suggest otherwise...
  • Pinetree: Many would argue that English teachers do have to grade papers, Steve. So we have a long way to go before we agree on what competence looks like. I'...
  • RiShawn Biddle: Actually, Tom, I didn't imply anything. Let's re-read the paragraph: "All high schools seem alike until one looks at such numbers as test score gro...
  • Steve Peha: Tom, You ask a very direct question, so I'll give you a direct answer: It depends on how you define the gap and how you define competence. Perso...
  • Tom Hoffman: Could I have some examples of schools that closed the achievement gap through simple competence?...
Blog WebMastered by All in One Webmaster.

Switch to our mobile site